Retro Mason

  • May 12, 2022

    Did you know that up until the 2004 Commencement George Mason University graduation gowns were black? The university moved to green gowns in 2004, thanks to the work of a Traditions Committee.

  • May 6, 2022

    On May 21, 1983, George Mason University awarded its first doctoral degree, a doctor of arts in education, to Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, a teacher at nearby West Springfield High School.

  • April 29, 2022

    On Nov. 24, 1985, George Mason University women's soccer defeated North Carolina 2-0 to claim the first-ever NCAA National Championship at Mason.

  • April 22, 2022

    The first Mason Day took place four years before the university’s first Commencement, and it’s been the event to look forward to ever since.

  • April 14, 2022

    On June 10, 2010, Mason opened the Biomedical Research Laboratory (BRL) on the Science and Technology Campus in Prince William County. Here, Mason researchers have been able to advance their groundbreaking work on the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of infectious diseases.

  • April 7, 2022

    On April 21, 2015, Mason held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Presidents Park Hydroponic Greenhouse and served greenhouse-grown food as a part of the celebration.

  • March 31, 2022

    On February 14, 2009, Mason student Ryan Allen, competing under his drag queen persona of Reann Ballslee, was crowned Ms. Mason at the Homecoming basketball game in front of a near sold-out crowd.

  • March 24, 2022

    Mason's International Week found its start in the 1970s as International Night with an evening of performances in the Lecture Hall on the Fairfax Campus.

  • March 18, 2022

    On October 17, 1986, the media descended upon George Mason University when economist James M. Buchanan won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on public choice theory.

  • March 10, 2022

    On April 1, 2006, thousands of George Mason University community members gathered in the Johnson Center to cheer on the men's basketball team as they took on University of Florida in the NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis.